While Singer stretched the bodywork in all directions, Hans Mezger and his colleagues wanted to incorporate four valves in the heads, but this left too little room for cooling fins. They concluded that the best way to cool the engine was with water. They devised a system on a 2.8-liter motor where water entered each four-valve head from the bottom and a pump forced it out the top. Manufacturers had to use “stock” cylinder blocks, though, as Jürgen Barth understated it, rules “allowed some additional machining.”
Experiments and testing proved the concept a success, so Weissach developed 3.2-liter (195.1-cubic-inch) blocks and a 2.1-liter (128.1-cubic-inch) engine for a new 936 sports racer for Le Mans. (At the same time, Porsche pursued an Indianapolis 500 effort for 1979 and 1980 with American Ted Fields and his Interscope Racing team. Engineers developed several 2.65-liter/161.7-cubic-inch, alcohol-fueled flat sixes with water-cooled heads for that contest.) If that were not enough challenge, Mezger’s crew also developed a 1.4-liter (85.4-cubic-inch) flat six to install in a scaled-down 935 nicknamed Baby to take on smaller-displacement BMWs and other competitors. As Barth explained, “These water-cooled and air-cooled engines were almost completely new. From the original Nine-Eleven, engineers took only a modified crankshaft with larger bearings. Pistons, connecting rods, gear-driven camshafts, were all new.”
Moby Dick debuted at the season-opening race in Italy, a country with a long memory for moments when Enzo Ferrari’s loyal fans believed he had been cheated against. The protest five years earlier that allowed Singer to upgrade Porsche’s production-based RSR into the prototype category and win a season led him to move preemptively. The FIA routinely offered to preview race cars. One member of the committee who arrived to inspect the 935/78 was longtime Porsche racer and friend Paul Frère.
As raced, the car used a third variety of rear wing. Martini & Rossi sponsored factory-racing 935s for many years.
FIA inspectors, invited to Porsche to preview this car, greeted it with howls: “It can’t be! It’s illegal.” Somewhere under all the wider bodywork was an actual 935. Photograph courtesy Porsche Archive
“Illegal,” he said. “The rule book says you have to have the production shape of the door, not these funny. . .”
“No problem,” said Singer, undoing the quick-release fittings. “Underneath is the original door.” His staff then removed all the extra panels from the car.
“The shape was there,” he explained years later, “and there was no sentence in the rule book about whether you could cover it.” Frère and his two colleagues stewed and then concluded that because what Singer had done was not specifically illegal, it was legal. They insisted, however, that Porsche run the car with the original doors exposed. Singer insisted that the inspectors approve the car in writing before they left, signing the forms with photos attached.
Mezger’s 935/71 engines developed 750 DIN horsepower at 8,200 rpm from 3,211cc displacement. The entire car weighed 1,025 kilograms, or 2,255 pounds. Racing at Le Mans in June, in striking Martini & Rossi racing livery, the car regularly hit 365 kilometers per hour (228 miles per hour) on Mulsanne. Jürgen Barth, one of the factory team drivers and head of Porsche’s customer racing program, was first to drive it.
Regulations said the roof could not be changed. But after Norbert Singer added wider door panels and an airplane-size wing, FIA regulators made him return to actual doors and reduce the wing. Photograph courtesy Porsche Archive
When the rules mentioned nothing about doorsills, Norbert Singer sliced them off, lowering the car 60mm (2.4 inches). He sacrificed the contoured floor pan for an aluminum tube frame covered with a thin piece of fiberglass.
Cologne-based real-estate developer Georg Loos hired Porsche mechanics to work his team on race weekends. It served him well, winning the 1000 kilometers of Nürburgring in May 1978, shown here, among many other events. Photograph courtesy Porsche Archive
Water-cooling allowed engineers to create four-valve cylinder heads on this 3,211cc (195.9-cubic-inch) Typ 935/3.2 flat six. Huge twin turbochargers run at 1.8 bar (26 psi) boost delivered 750 horsepower at 8,200 rpm.
“This was the first race car I ever drove,” he recalled in an interview in 2004, “that I held onto the wheel with both hands. With boost all the way up, I think it was more than nine hundred horsepower. I think one hundred sixty kilometers [100 miles per hour] came in six seconds, maybe less. In second gear! Then shift to third and fourth and it starts all over again each time.”
But Moby Dick failed to meet expectations throughout the 1978 season. It didn’t finish its first race, and it didn’t compete at Norisring in Germany or at Vallelunga in Italy later in the year. It placed only eighth at Le Mans. Finally, at Silverstone in England, it won easily. Porsche produced only two cars, plus the tubular space frame for a third. It was several years before copies appeared and did the concept justice. Privateers John Fitzpatrick from England and Gianpiero Moretti from Italy created and raced their own long-tailed Moby Dicks with help from outsiders such as Erwin and Manfred Kremer from Cologne. For Barth’s customers, Porsche produced a more restrained-looking 935/78, and these cars often outshined the more dramatic Moby Dick.
YEAR
1978
DESIGNATION
935-78 Moby Dick
SPECIFICATIONS
MODEL AVAILABILITY
coupe
WHEELBASE
2279mm/89.7 inches
LENGTH
4890mm/192.5 inches
WIDTH
1970mm/77.6 inches
HEIGHT
1265mm/49.8 inches
WEIGHT
1030kg/2266 pounds
BASE PRICE
Not available
TRACK FRONT
1630mm/64.2 inches
TRACK REAR
1575mm/62.0 inches
WHEELS FRONT
11x16
WHEELS REAR
15X19
TIRES FRONT
275/600-16
TIRES REAR
350/700-19
CONSTRUCTION
Aluminum tube frame
SUSPENSION FRONT
Independent, wishbones, coil-over gas-filled shock absorbers, adjustable anti-roll bar
SUSPENSION REAR
Independent, light alloy semi-trailing arms, titanium coil springs, gas-filled double-action shock absorbers, adjustable anti-roll bar
BRAKES
Ventilated, drilled discs from Typ 917, 4-piston aluminum fixed calipers
ENGINE TYPE
Horizontally opposed DOHC six-cylinder Typ 935/3.2
Water-cooled cylinder heads, turbocharged, intercooled
ENGINE DISPLACEMENT
3211cc/195.9CID
BORE AND STROKE
95.7x74.4mm/3.77x2.93 inches
HORSEPOWER
650@8200rpm
TORQUE
615lb-ft@6500rpm
COMPRESSION
7.0:1
FUEL DELIVERY
Bosch mechanical fuel injection
FINAL DRIVE AXLE RATIO
Varied by circuit
TOP SPEED
220mph
PRODUCTION
2
The Typ 930/60 engine accelerated the 1,300-kilogram (2,860-pound) coupe from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 5.4 seconds. Top speed was 260 kilometers (161 miles) per hour.
1978-1979 911 TURBO
As early as 1971, Erwin Kremer and his brother Manfred had prepared, raced, and won in Porsches from their Auto Kremer shops in Cologne. In his 911S, Erwin claimed the Porsche cup that year. A Georg Loos/Erwin Kremer–prepared RSR took John Fitzpatrick to the European GT championship in 1974. The Kremer brothers responded when Porsche offered 934s to outside customers, and with Bob Wollek at the wheel, their 934K dominated the European GT season in 1976. The car’s radical styling and successful aerodynamics were other elements of its success, a creation of Cologne designer Ekkehard Zimmerman and his company Design + Plastic. When customer 935s appeared
in June 1978, the brothers went to work. They debuted their 1979 935K3 at Zolder in Holland. For weight reduction and cooling efficiency, they replaced Porsche’s water-to-air intercooler with an air-to-air version. With other internal changes, they claimed 805 brake horsepower at 8,000 rpm.
To increase stiffness, they welded nearly 100 feet of aluminum tubing onto the internal roll cage and added more out front to extend Zimmerman’s bodywork and in back to provide better engine access for repair or removal. They reskinned the car in DuPont Kevlar, which lightened the 935K3 by 30 kilograms (66 pounds). But, as Karl Ludvigsen reported, this increased the cost of the body by ten times. As Manfred Kremer told Paul Frère in Road & Track, they made about 100 changes in their K3 compared to the factory-delivered 935, which “add up to one percent more efficient car, which is all you need to beat the competition.” For each race, they used a freshly rebuilt engine and updated details throughout their cars. Kremer team driver Klaus Ludwig won Le Mans in 1979, and other K3s came in third and eleventh. Ludwig won 11 of 12 races to seize the European GT championship. With a record like that, customers lined up to buy K3s at DM 375,000, roughly $210,000 to U.S. competitors. Series production models for the 1978 L series and the 1979 M series remained reserved and contained by comparison to how the racers evolved. Factions sprung up within styling and engineering departments. Those who loved the 911 were frustrated that management had halted engineering development and design updates. Wolfgang Möbius, who designed the 928, still drove a 911 as his chosen company car. Production of 911SC and Turbo models for the L series reached 10,743 units; this climbed to 11,596 cars for 1979, though the models barely changed.
Little changed on the Turbo body, but underneath that rear wing, a new engine displaced 3,299cc, 201.2 cubic inches. With a new charge-air intercooler just beneath the louvers, the Typ 930/60 engine developed 300 horsepower, while U.S. Typ 930/61 engines developed 265 horsepower at 5,500 rpm.
Short-pile carpeting replaced first-generation thicker material. The Turbo got tinted windows all around. The car sold for 79,900DM and $36,700 in the United States.
YEAR
1978-1979
DESIGNATION
911 Turbo
SPECIFICATIONS
MODEL AVAILABILITY
Coupe
WHEELBASE
2272mm/89.4 inches
LENGTH
4291mm/168.9 inches
WIDTH
1775mm/69.9 inches
HEIGHT
1310mm/52.4 inches
WEIGHT
1300kg/2860 pounds
BASE PRICE
$43,661
TRACK FRONT
1432mm/56.4 inches
TRACK REAR
1501mm/59.1 inches
WHEELS FRONT
7.0Jx16
WHEELS REAR
8.0Jx16
TIRES FRONT
205/55VR16
TIRES REAR
225/50VR16
CONSTRUCTION
Unitized welded steel
SUSPENSION FRONT
Independent, wishbones, MacPherson struts, longitudinal torsion bars, gas-filled double-action shock absorbers, anti-roll bar
SUSPENSION REAR
Independent, light alloy semi-trailing arms, transverse torsion bars, gas-filled double-action shock absorbers, anti-roll bar
BRAKES
Ventilated, drilled discs, 4-piston aluminum calipers
ENGINE TYPE
Horizontally opposed DOHC six-cylinder Typ 930/60
Horizontally opposed DOHC six-cylinder Typ 930/61 (1977/1978 US 49-states w/thermal reactors, EGR)
Horizontally opposed DOHC six-cylinder Typ 930/63 (1977/1978 US California w/thermal reactors, EGR, vacuum ignition retard)
ENGINE DISPLACEMENT
3299cc/201.3CID
BORE AND STROKE
97x74.4mm/3.82x2.93 inches
HORSEPOWER
300@5500rpm (930/60)
265@5500rpm (930/61 and 930/63)
TORQUE
304lb-ft@4000rpm (930/60)
291lb-ft@4000rpm (930/61 and 930/63)
COMPRESSION
7.0:1
FUEL DELIVERY
Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection, turbocharger, intercooler
FINAL DRIVE AXLE RATIO
4.22
TOP SPEED
160mph
PRODUCTION
14,476 worldwide 1978 – 1988. Turbo not available legally in US from 1980 through 1985
Side sills and rear fender air inlets added an additional 10,772DM, $4,224, to the price. A fully optioned Turbo with bodywork and a “performance kit” that boosted horsepower to 330 at 5,750 rpm cost 183,272DM, $71,871 at the time.
1983 930 Turbo M505
Porsche still did not export its 930 Turbo models to the United States or rest-of-the-world customers, but the company offered the M701 option, the flat nose, or flachtbau, to those who could buy the cars. Initially it was available on new orders only for an additional 38,340DM, about $15,032 at the time.
1980-1983 911SC AND 1980-1985 911 TURBO
To commemorate the opening of Porsche’s Weissach engineering and design center and test track, the company issued a 180-horsepower (SAE) “911 Weissach Edition” for U.S. customers for 1980 as part of the new-designation A Program. Porsche fitted the cars, available either in platinum metallic with platinum wheels or in black metallic, with special interior appointments and the Turbo whale tail. It limited output to 408 cars.
A slightly more special car, the 911 SC 3.1, appeared at the same time, limited to about 100 copies. Porsche engineers fitted it with engines bored to 3.3-liter Turbo dimensions—97mm—while retaining 3.0-liter SC engine stroke at 70.4mm. This yielded 3,122cc, or 190.4 cubic inches, and the engine developed 210 DIN horsepower at 5,800 rpm. Some 50 of these cars remained in Porsche engineering, and there is some evidence that the engines were development mules for the chain tensioner system Porsche introduced on the 3.2 Carreras in 1984. While all the cars carried over Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical fuel injection, a number of the 3.1s appeared with dual exhausts, and many of them bore Turbo front and rear spoilers, similar to the U.S-destined Weissach Editions. Porsche apparently sold the other half of 3.1 production to favored customers.
With the 1980 model, the 2,994cc (182.6-cubic-inch) electronically fuel-injected Typ 930/09 engine developed 188 horsepower at 5,500 rpm, an increase of 8 horsepower. The car sold for $32,000 in the Untied States, with 180 horsepower.
Engineers dealt with emission and safety standards. These included two separate specifications for U.S. deliveries, one set for California cars and a second for the other 49 states. The EPA rationalized the two for 1980, adopting lambda sonde oxygen sensors and three-way catalytic converters. But emissions restrictions still constrained U.S.-bound cars to 180 SAE net horsepower. Porsche management faced hard choices as it struggled to meet world-wide regulations. For the U.S. markets, saddled with a 55-mile-per-hour national speed limit, safety consciousness and fuel consumption concerns forced Porsche to fit speedometers that read only to 85 miles per hour. The company withdrew the 930 Turbo from U.S., Canadian, and Japanese markets. The three-speed Sportomatic transmission disappeared as well, a victim of changing tastes and diminishing desires. Stuttgart factory output fell to 9,943 cars for 1980, leaving some distance to go before the model fell against Ernst Fuhrmann’s arbitrary 6,000-unit death sentence. But Fuhrmann split advertising, engineering, and design budgets three ways. While the 911 and 930 constituted a third of total production (including 924 and 928 models) of 28,622 cars, observers recognized that the air-cooled cars got less attention.
In his last years at Porsche, Ernst Fuhrmann made few friends and earned more enemies. In an interview in 1991, he admitted that he had caused some of that himself. His reputation fell further as people criticized him for usurping the role of company spokesperson from Ferry Porsche at public events. Yet this was an element of the job description, and Fuhrmann’s successors have fil
led it as well. Senior staff inside the company who knew Ferry Porsche well said that he was soft-spoken, introverted, and circumspect. He never enjoyed being the center of attention.
Along with the rear whale tail, Weissach coupes came with sport shock absorbers, an electric sunroof, and electrically heated outside mirrors.
The Complete Book of Porsche 911 Page 10
